Syrian Amry forces, backed by Russian air power, recaptured the ancient city of Palmyra from Daesh terrorist group (also known as ISIL or ISIS) after days of intense fighting, state media and a monitoring group said.

Syrian state television quoted a military source as saying the army had taken “complete control over the city of Palmyra”.

The Britain-based so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said gunfire could still be heard in the eastern part of the city on Sunday morning, but that the bulk of Daesh militants had retreated, Al Jazeera reported.

Palmyra, known as the “bride of the desert”, used to attract tens of thousands of tourists a year before the Syrian conflict started in 2011.

In May 2015, Daesh took the city in a matter of days and later demolished some of its best-known monuments.

Capturing the city is a major victory for President Bashar al-Assad’s government.

With Russian support, it has made steady gains in recent months against Daesh and other groups it is fighting.

Earlier this month, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the withdrawal of some fighter jets from Syria, but said that strikes against Daesh and another group, the Nusra Front, would continue.

Those groups have been excluded from a Russian and US-brokered ceasefire that began on February 27 and has largely held.

Syria has been gripped by civil war since March 2011 with Takfiri terrorists, including Daesh, currently controlling parts of it, mostly in the east.

The Syrian conflict has killed at least 260,000 people, according to the UN, and more than half of Syria’s pre-war population of 22.4 million has been internally displaced or fled abroad.

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